A one page printable paper doll in black and white, I drew back in college. I went through a real Alice phase for a while there… though in truth I’m not totally sure I’m out of the “Alice” phase. I really do have a deep love of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. I usually think of these one page paper dolls as “pagelits” though I don’t know what that has to do with anything.
I’m pretty sure if you stick around than I will do more versions of Alice. She is one I seem to come back to over and over again with my paper dolling habits. I don’t really know why.
I am really in love with this paper dolls hair and I like her ruched skirted outfit. She was heavily influenced by Japanese fashion dolls like Nippon. When I talk about things that inspire me, I don’t usually mention actual dolls- the three-dimensional kind, but they are a pretty strong influence, largely because an artist can create a whole “personality” with just changing the facial screening and the outfit and that interests me.
While I don’t collect fashion dolls or ball-jointed dolls, I love to look at the pictures and I follow a few blogs devoted to them even though I’ll probably never own one. Even as a child, I never wanted a lot of dolls, but I always wanted a lot of clothing. I think that is part of the reason I liked paper dolls- they could have thousand piece wardrobes with nothing but a piece of paper and some crayons. And my favorite paper dolls as a kid were those based on dolls, not based on people.
Collecting Fashion Dolls by Terri Gold features lots of news about the doll world, but also the most beautiful doll photographs. Doll Epic features more photos of beautiful dolls and a lot of whimsy. I love her fascination with tiny doll weapons (and I think I would share that fascination if I actually collected). I have just recently begun reading Black Doll Collecting. I have always been interested in the issue of racial diversity in toys and I really enjoy reading about issues and concerns of a black doll collector (though I’m never sure what to say… is it black or African American when it comes to dolls?).
Speaking of Marisole, I am having a little drawing in honor of my 65th Marisole paper doll, so check out this post for all the details on how to enter. The winner with be announced Monday and will get a custom paper doll.
Today’s paper doll is another one of my forays into steampunk or neo-victorian or a gross misapplication of my knowledge of 1900’s costume, pick your term. I am not convinced that steampunk isn’t just what happens with goths discovered brown and gears, but I am trying to be open minded about it. I do like pseudo-victorian costume and I always have, so I guess I can’t judge. Though gears when they don’t seem to do anything sort of annoy me, I mean… they should have a purpose. Do I sound like an old man growling about children on his porch? I rather think I do…
So, I know I promised to get back to normal this week, but it just didn’t seem to quite happen. I have some Curves 2.0 things drawn and colored, so I have no excuse. Would a double post for those paper dolls perhaps help make up for my lack of clothing? I feel so bad for the girls running around in their unmentionables.
For some reason I can not fathom, I have gotten less sleep with week then last week which is odd, since I spent last week house sitting four cats and four snakes, one of which bit me (a snake, not the cats). Since snakes can carry bacteria, I soaked my hand, band-aided it and checked it regularly. It’s healing just fine, but the speed at which a snake can move is shocking. Makes me wonder why anyone would want to keep poisonous ones. Even if the snakes were ill tempered, the cats were mostly sweethearts, with the exception of one which I am convinced is secretly a super-villain. That’s over now and I’m just back to classes and work, so I have no excuse for not getting plenty of rest or keeping up with the blog.
I am crazy busy getting ready for classes. I have nothing intelligent to say about this paper doll. Enjoy her. Play with her. Cut her out. Get her married. Take her home to meet your Mother… (Okay, maybe not the meeting your Mother thing, cause that could be kinda creepy)
Anyway, the point is to enjoy her.
On a quasi related note, I really do like how her hair came out. I am less sure about her dresses, but I think the hair makes up for it. I’ve been wanting to do a darker skinned Asian doll for a while. Her coloring is based on a lovely visiting Chinese student who was in my courses with me last year. We did a project together during which we both brought food to group meetings. I brought oatmeal chocolate chip cookies and she brought the most wonderful meat filled dumplings. As I recall, she was somewhat suspicious of our insistence that we dip the cookies in milk. I guess it’s not something they do in China.
I’m not totally happy with her face. I’m going to say that straight up, so that I can get it out of the way. Now, onto other things…
I really am pleased with her adventuring outfit on the left and then on the right is her ball gown- for when she can’t show up dressed in what she wore to fight off the molepeople. It’s not a good adventure story unless there are molepeople and zombies and possibly some sort of fishmen. Of course, it should be noted that no one ever asks the molepeople how they feel about these things. I mean, there they are minding their own business when suddenly they’re being attacked.
When I was a child, I always wanted one of those cakes which had a doll inside of it, but I didn’t like Barbie dolls, so I don’t know what I would have done with one if I had gotten it. I was reminded of them as I worked on this set of paper dolls. Marisole doesn’t have a lot of huge skirted dresses. I think because I more often take my inspiration from the Regency then from the Antebellum eras of costume. Never the less, I knew I wanted to draw some things that were utterly over the top and I think these qualify.
I don’t usually start knowing a color scheme, but in the case of these dresses I was pretty sure I wanted them to be yellow from the beginning. Because the dresses were going to be yellow, I chose a warm pale brown color for Marisole’s skintone and a dark color for her hair. I was really concerned with her skin clashing with her costumes. I don’t think it does, but I was worried it might.
I have, as I sometimes do, left this to the last minute. So, now that its posted, I am going to crawl into bed and sleep for I have work and homework to finish in the morning.
Sometimes, paper dolls don’t come out like you wanted.
I had planned to do some Sweet or Gothic Lolita style dresses, maybe with striped stockings and some neat hats. I really think the heavy shadowed style lends itself well to all things gothic and that was what I wanted to tap into that. Sort of a dark Alice in Wonderland vibe.
I like the doll- I love her hair and I think her face is quite pretty. Both dresses failed to be what I had hoped they would be. I should have redrawn them, but I didn’t want too. I suppose this is part of the reason I am working on a series to replace this one when I stop caring enough to really edit my work it tends to be a bad sign.
I’ve been thinking a bit about the request to show more work in progress. It is something I have been wanting to do for a while, I just have trouble scanning pencil and I’m not sure I like how it comes out… I need to give it more thought. I haven’t given up on the idea yet, I’m just not sure how to make it work.
I don’t normally start with a color scheme. I normally start with an idea and then worry about how to color it, but with this paper doll set I started with a color scheme. I knew I wanted to do something with browns and creams. The pink came from the desire to pick a contrasting color that was warm rather then cool.
I decided to name this paper doll set after that ice cream with the vanilla, chocolate and strawberry stripes that I always used to think was called Napoleon Ice Cream, but I realized later that it actually had nothing to do with short militaristic Frenchmen and was actually called Neapolitan Ice Cream after the city of Naples. So, I’m glad I found that out before I wrote this post and sounded like a total ditz. I take some pride in only being a partial ditz.
I’m actually quite pleased with how this paper doll came out. I really like the contrast of the red hair with the brown and pink color scheme, though I confess I originally tried her out with every other hair color since I felt like I have done a lot of redheads and then I gave up and decided didn’t care. I’ve likes redheads ever since I saw Anne of Green Gables on TV as a child.
So, it’s nearly spring here and I thought I should post this before it becomes totally inappropriate, because of the weather. I didn’t wear a jacket today, though it was a little chilly for that I still enjoyed having the sun on my face. I don’t have a lot to say about these costumes except that they were fun to draw. I really like ice skating costumes even if I don’t ice skate much.
I do a little, but I wouldn’t call myself skilled… let’s say that I have, in the past, ice skated and leave it at that.
Beyond that, I don’t have anything really intelligent to say tonight. Sometimes, I feel like my posts are afterthoughts and that’s a little bothersome. I should work on it.
Inspiration for today’s printable paper doll includes the Victorian era, gothic fashion, fantasy gowns, and playing with ruffles. I have been practicing my ruffle drawing skills lately and I think I am improving. Maintaining my gothic inspiration, I gave today’s Marisole paper doll piercings and some red hair to set off that purple. (I don’t know how I feel about the skintone though. I’m not totally keen on giving Marisole fair skin.)
There were a few more pieces of clothing for this printable paper doll then could be easily fit on the page, so I lost the title and just sort of went for it. I intended the white dress to be a slip to be worn underneath the other costumes, but, of course, it could also be a sun dress. I’m not totally pleased with how the ruching turned out on the hem of it, but what can you do?
This Marisole Paper Doll came out of the same doodle session as my Tokyo meets Georgia paper doll, though I finished the Tokyo meets Georgia one sooner. I tend to do a lot of thumbnail doodling and then those doodles become paper dolls, but sometimes not until weeks later. Paper doll creation is actually a very slow, multi-stepped process and I am nearly always working on several things at once. I mention all this, because sometimes I think people assume that it’s a “one set” at a time kinda gig when, in truth, I am usually working on five or seven or nine sets at one time and they get finished when I feel like it.
This is mostly because sometimes I feel like drawing, sometimes I feel like coloring and sometimes I feel like doing layout work. (Okay, I never “feel” like doing layout work, but it has gotta be done.)
Perhaps not a perfect system, but it works for me. 🙂
